Hullo world! Welcome to my new home!

Having a website of your own is maybe the internet equivalent of moving out of a rented apartment and into a house of your own. I’ve been meaning to do it myself for a while now, but things have been really busy over in the third world, and I couldn’t find the time to learn web design and wordpress. Thankfully, one thing I did learn over the past few years is the concept of “outsourcing,” and I finally swallowed my pride and asked better and more talented people to help. (Thanks, John and Darin!)

So what have I been keeping busy with? I’m still writing and illustrating comics, and teaching comic book production classes in Ateneo de Manila University, just as I have been for the past few years. I’m still freelancing as a creative content developer, which means I write, draw, design, and lay out whatever client wants or needs me to do. The main new thing is that I’ve also started offering creativity and communication workshops now, to schools, corporations and other venues, as part of the Brain Food group that I formed. There are also a couple of intellectual property ventures that I’m exploring right now…

But that’s a story for another day.

Are you a pushover parent? Have you ever given in when you shouldn’t have? Do your kids have you wrapped around their cute, chubby fingers? Putting your foot down should not mean having to step on anyone’s toes. This workshop, using tried and tested techniques from the world of business, equips parents like you with the tools to turn arguments into agreements. These techniques serve to empower parents and help to encourage dialogue between parents and children, and help foster a more harmonious family dynamic.

March 27, 2010 Saturday 430-730pm
The Forum, Fully Booked High Street
Workshop Fee is Php1500/pax

For reservation details, email brainfoodph@gmail.com or contact 0916-7396237.

Petty Pets, purveyors of pets cute and cuddly, have recently started offering official Petty Pets merchandise at their store in SM Megamall. Here’s the initial wave of button pins that I designed for them:

With more to come soon, but oh! oh! Stocks are limited so get yours not tomorrow, not next week, but now, now, now!

Did you miss our stART with mio exhibit at Gallery7?

Well then, you can see the works on exhibit at Pino Resto Bar, at 122 Maginhawa, Teachers Village, Quezon City. Five-year old Mio Mendiola engages in art collaborations with Alessa Libongco, JP Cuison, CJ de Silva, Nolan Fabular, Team Manila, Electrolychee, Robert Alejandro, 27+20, yours truly, and more!

Open Daily for Lunch and Dinner! For reservations, contact 441-1773 or email PinoRestoBar@yahoo.com.

I’ve recently been doing a number of shirt designs for various places, among them new shirt brand Spiffy, which has its online home over at Spiffy.ph. Here are the first three shirt designs I made for them, including the first-ever Bakemono High shirt, based on the comic strip series I write and draw for K-Zone Magazine.

There’s a ton of other spiffy shirts over at Spiffy, so why not give their site a look-see?

Hello friends,

I need your help, each and every one of you.

The Reader’s digest version is this: my girlfriend Lorra has been the victim of mean-spirited anonymous people who’ve not only set up a fake blog, but have since then tried hacking into her email accounts as well.

The past few days, we’ve tried reporting the fake blog to Wordpress in the hopes of having it shut down, but they’ve so far chosen not to even acknowledge our messages.

And so, in an attempt at positive resistance, we’re trying instead to reaffirm Lorra’s true presence online and discourage the trollers. We ask each of you to please, please, if you could, to link to Lorra’s true websites below:

http://lorraelenaangbuete.wordpress.com

http://lorraelena.tumblr.com

http://juzagirl.deviantart.com

Through your blogs, Facebook accounts, etc. We hope that this helps move her real sites up in popularity, relegating the fake blog to the bowels of search engine results. At the least, it’s a demonstration of our love, respect and support for Lorra.

If you it’s not too much to ask, we also hope you could help spread the word about this, and ask your friends to check out Lorra’s sites as well. They’re interesting in their own right (her deviantArt account, especially, is a nice showcase of her artwork). It would mean a lot.

Thank you so much,

Elbert

Set for release on Valentines Day is a new book I illustrated, “The Love of My Buhay,” published by A&S Books. It’s been in the works since summer of last year, and I’m excited and relieved that it’s finally coming out. Lorra helped out a lot with the art on this, and it makes me giddy just thinking about it, the two of us working on a book like this. Hee hee. It feels a lot like this:

Update: The book will be available at Mary Grace Serendra and Alabang branches for a limited engagement – until February 28, 2010 only. Here’s the promotional poster for it:

In the face of sadness, grief, even tragedy, words offer comfort and strength. By reading other people’s words, we are given the comfort of knowing we are not alone. By writing with our own words, we are given the chance of molding our experiences for the sake of others.

The writing for healing workshop led by Palanca Award-winning poet Lawrence ypil will help participants discover the power of words to give shape to loss and meaning to tragedy.Through guided reflections,writing exercises, and journaling tips, the workshop will show the different ways creative expression through writing can helptoheal not just ourselves, but also the people around us.

Register at the Customer Service Area of Fully Booked High Street, or email brainfoodph@gmail.com. Fee is Php1000/pax.

Renaissance is the comics event that will bring together the best and brightest comic book talents of the country.

Efren Sapalaran is my next comic book project.

Both will happen in February.

Game!

“Lola: A Ghost Story” is now out in comic stores, and if you’re still on the fence about whether to buy a copy or not, perhaps some of the reviews will help convince you to buy a copy for yourself, and another for a loved one.

Comic Impact calls Lola “the sort of book that never gets old after how ever many reads.” Of my artwork, the reviewer writes, “What makes it so scary and surprising, is that the whole book is usually drawn in a lovely, romantic style where everything looks joyous and at ease…but then when you come across a monster it really catches you off guard.”

OneMetal gives the book a 3.5 out of 5 – “good stuff, definitely worth a look.”

Comic Book Resources has a review of the book as well, drawing parallels between my work and artist Paul Smith, which just made me absolutely giddy.

Christmas is usually the busiest time of the year – not because of all the shopping and parties I have to do (I don’t) but because clients, wanting to use every last penny in their corporate budgets, end up asking me to do some project or other which I need to finish before the year is up. It’s also the time of the year that I’m commissioned to create art for various purposes.

Here, I was asked to create a family Christmas card, three by five inches, so I took my Letraset markers and came up with this:

Except oops! I didn’t ask enough questions, and it turned out that client wanted it to be in landscape format. So oh, fine, I’ll just add to the drawing:

But apparently, orange isn’t festive enough – or, I guess, Christmas-y enough – so I scanned the art into Photoshop and colored stuff in using my 3″ x 5″ Wacom Bamboo tablet and a very basic color palette.

Voila!